Make You Smile
by Dizzle
Summary: Nora's pregnant. How is this effecting the MacDonaldVenturi family, one Venturi in particular? Oneshot. No real plot, just some bonding with NoraDerek and some with SmartiSmerek.


**AN: So, I know I should be working on my other LWD story, but this came to me and I couldn't finish the chapter I was writing. So, I stopped in the middle of it and wrote this. I did it fast and late, so it didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it. And I dislike the end. And I think Derek's a little OOC. But hey, atleast I got it out of my head, so now I can go back to working on the chapter. It's set close to the end of Casey and Derek's senior year, so they're all roughly three years older than they are in the series. I hope you enjoy it. Revie.w even if you don't. I can always use some constructive criticism.  
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_Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't sue.  
_

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Derek walked down the hall. It was late and dinner had been something like five hours ago. Needless to say, he was starving, and therefore heading to the kitchen for a midnight snack. 

Upon entering the kitchen, he was not surprised when a familiar form stood silhouetted against the light of the refrigerator door. Derek flipped on the overhead light and Nora jumped slightly, obviously startled. He smirked at her guilty expression.

"Craving pickles and chocolate?" He asked almost rhetorically, a smile still on his face as he joined her by the fridge.

"Something like that." She replied, patting his back affectionately, her other hand resting on her stomach. Over the past three years, she'd come to love him as one of her own children and as much as he tried to fight it, Derek had come to love her like a second mother. It was hard for her to be a first considering he still saw Abby every month or so, but she was close enough.

Derek rolled his eyes as he reached over to the freezer and pulled out a carton of ice cream. "Yet another reason to add to my _Why I'm Glad I'm Not a Woman_ list."

"You have a list?" Nora questioned, eyeing the ice cream eagerly. Derek took notice of this and pulled two spoons from the drawer as she got out two bowls.

"Yep," he said, pulling the lid off the carton and pointing to his head with the spoons, "it's all in here. All fifty-seven reasons."

She stood next to him as he filled the two bowls with the chocolaty goodness. "Uh huh. It's amazing how you have room in your brain for such lists and yet no room to remember the vocabulary for your English exam."

Nora could almost swear a worried look passed over his face. "You saw that?"

She nodded. "Derek, you better pick it up, don't you want to graduate at the end of the semester?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Hey, it's not my fault Tracy Stuart forgot to remind me that there was an English test on Tuesday."

"I'm sure her 'forgetting' had nothing to do with the fact that your lips were locked all Monday night, either." She couldn't help but laugh at the look on his face, taking a bite of her ice cream.

"Please, Nora. Listening to you talk about my love life is no more appealing than listening to you talk about yours and Dad's." He made a puking motion, then sneered before letting out a small chuckle. She smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry. I know that had to have been awkward on you children."

"Yeah. Lucky Marti, she seems to be the only one unscathed." They stood quietly for a few moments, the only sound being the occasional clinking of metal spoons against glass bowls. "Are you going to find out what it is?"

"I don't know. George and I haven't really talked about it. It's kind of exciting, with it being a surprise and all. But we still have a while before we have to decide."

Derek smiled. "Don't wait too long, before you know it, nine months will be up. Night Nora." They side hugged and he picked up his bowl, exiting the kitchen.

He was enjoying his ice cream on the way back to his room when he noticed Marti's door standing wide open. Figuring she had woken up to go to the bathroom and forgotten to shut it, he stepped in silently and started to pull it closed. But he heard something that made him stop.

Weeping.

"Smarti?" he asked into the darkness.

"Smerek?" came a response. Her voice was shaky and thick with emotion. He took this as his cue and entered her room, shutting the door behind him.

"What're you doing still awake? It's late and you need to get up early tomorrow."

"I know." He swore he heard her voice crack that time, only more evidence of her tears.

"Smarti, what's up?" he inquired, sitting on her bed and placing his bowl on the bedside table. "Why're you crying?"

She sobbed a few hard sobs and sniffed a couple of times before finally answering. "It's nothing."

Derek was not convinced, however, and turned his body to face her. "Come on," he said, placing a hand on her head, stroking it softly, "if you don't tell me, I can't do anything to fix it."

The nine year old turned over on her side and shook her head, causing him to stop. "You can't fix it anyway." She said bitterly. He furrowed his brow and sighed, lying down next to her in the tiny bed, like he'd done so many times before. He stayed quiet and racked his brain for all possible reasons she could be upset.

"Is it school?" She shook her head. "What about one of your friends?" Again, she shook her head. He was running out of options. Those things were what she was usually crying about. "Well…what?"

It was silent for a few minutes before her tears started flowing freely again. "I like being the baby." She said, in between sniffles.

So that was it. Derek let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. He couldn't say he wasn't expecting this at some point. She didn't take the news that Nora was pregnant as great as the rest of the family had. She wasn't rude or anything, she just simply acted as if she didn't care, almost like she hadn't wanted the baby. Now it made sense. Still, even though he saw it coming, he wasn't fully aware of how to handle the situation. Silently, he wrapped his arms around her, bringing her close to him and hugging her in a way that was oh-so familiar.

"Smati, you'll always be Dad's baby, you know that."

"Nuh uh." She said defiantly. "When the new baby is born, I won't be the youngest anymore. And Daddy will love it more because it's Nora's baby and not Mommy's."

Derek was confused. "Where in the world did you get that idea?"

"I just know." She mumbled.

"Marti, Dad is going to love you like his baby girl even after this baby is born. Nothing is going to change that."

"But he'll love that baby more than he loves me."

"Trust me, he could never love anyone more than he loves you."

She was quiet again, thinking of a retort. "But he'll be so busy, we won't get to play like we do now. And you and Casey will be gone to university. And Edwin and Lizzie are busy with all of their stuff and I won't have anyone."

"Do you remember what I told you when Nora and Casey and Lizzie first moved in here?" he asked, half expecting her to say no. She said nothing, but he felt her nod against his chest. "What do you remember?"

"You said…" She sniffed. "You said that you wanted me to be excited because there were finally going to be some girls in the house…and that was good for me…."

Derek nodded. "And what else?"

"That it was going to be a fun adventure…"

"Exactly. That's just how this is going to be, Smarti. You've never been around when we've had a baby in the house. It'll be fun. Sure, it'll get on your nerves sometimes, but for the most part, it's the greatest thing that could happen to this family. And yeah, Dad will get busy, but you know he's never to busy if you _need_ him. And you can always call me whenever you want."

She seemed to be contemplating this, keeping her mouth shut. Eventually she spoke. "What if it doesn't like me?"

"What? That's crazy…"

"No, really. What if I'm a bad big sister and the baby hates me when it grows up?"

He smiled slightly. He opened his mouth to speak, but shut it again, contemplating what to say next. After a moment of silence, he decided. "I worried about the same thing when you were born, you know that?" He asked quietly.

"Really?" Marti replied, her voice equally as soft.

"Yeah, I never felt that way about Edwin. But you…I did. I think it was because you were a girl. I was afraid you'd hate me."

"But I don't hate you Smerek! I love you!" she cried, almost as if she thought he wouldn't believe her. Her tiny hands gripped his shirt tighter and she clung to him. "I don't hate you at all."

"Shhh. I know, Smarti, I love you, too. But back then I thought you were going to hate me because I'm a bad brother. And look how we turned out. Anyway, haven't Casey and Lizzie taught you anything?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean like when Casey does your make up all pretty like a super model. Or when Lizzie braids your hair like she wears hers for soccer games. They do all kinds of sister things with you, and I know that when it's time for you to be a big sister to this baby, you'll be the best ever. Better than the two of them combined."

Marti grew silent again, dwelling on this longer than any other point he'd made thus far. "Okay." She said finally, almost to where he couldn't hear her.

"What?"

"Okay…maybe this baby thing won't be so bad." She smiled sadly, like she was ashamed to admit it.

"Exactly. I promise, you'll love it." Derek said, grinning into her hair. "Now, I'm not one to say 'I told you so', but…"

Marti pulled away from his body and looked at him. "Yes, you are." She said, narrowing her eyes at him.

He laughed. "Okay, so maybe I am. Well, I told you so." He stuck out his tongue at her in a childish manner.

It was her turn to laugh now and she pulled herself back into his embrace. "Thanks Smerek." She replied, tiredly.

"You're welcome. Go to sleep, okay?" She nodded into his chest again and he could tell she was already drifting off. They lay like that for a while longer, until both of them finally fell asleep.


End file.
